Recently
several of my good friends were
hired at a popular restaurant
in the area which we live. After
a week of training, they have
repeatedly told me about the
sexual politics that have been
going on at the restaurant.
Managers openly discriminate
against girls according to how
pleasurable they are to the
eye. Only the cutest girls are
allowed to be hostesses, and
girls who are deemed "unpleasing"
are demoted to bussing. The
managers openly discuss this
fact with the employees and
seem to have little regard for
the fact that they are violating
the equal opportunity statutes
established by the federal government.
I am completely disgusted by
this and would like to organize
some type of action to expose
this blatant discrimination
to the eyes of the community.
What course of action would
you suggest I take? Thank you
for your very valuable advice.

Sincerely,

Katie

Dear
Katie,

Thanks
for speaking out against the
injustices that are right in
your own backyard. I think it's
great that you want to pursue
this and, hopefully, your friends
who work there are supportive
of your efforts, because obviously
you will need their examples.

First,
it's important to document what
went wrong--exact dates, behaviors,
etc. To operate in good faith,
you should write a letter to
the employer with this information,
explaining that if they don't
respond then you will initiate
a major PR campaign against
them. It's important to give
them a chance to respond.

If
they don't respond, you can
take action to notify the public.
I would make lots of flyers
and hand them out so people
know what happened and if they
don't support this behavior,
then they shouldn't support
this restaurant. It's really
important to have all of the
facts so they can't come back
and file something against you.
Also, you might want to try
to get some media attention.
Pay attention to your local
paper and which reporters seem
to have an interest in these
types of stories--then send
them a letter with this information
and with your plans for future
action.